Time: Thu Jul 03 20:03:14 1997
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Date: Thu, 03 Jul 1997 20:00:53 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: War is a racket (fwd)
>Major General Smedley Butler also has a book by the same name. It's quite
>good. In fact, check out anything by this old hero. Butler was an amazing
>character, and his books are well worth finding and reading.
>Patty
>
>Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General
>Smedley Butler, former Commandant USMC.
>
>Tom
>
>-------
>
>War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe,
>as something that is not what it seems to the majority of
>people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about.
>It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense
>of the masses.
>
>I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing
>else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight.
>The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns
>6% over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to
>get 100%. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers
>follow the flag.
>
>I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some
>lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things
>we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and
>the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is
>simply a racket.
>
>There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military
>gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out
>enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain
>men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss"
>Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
>
>It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a
>comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty-
>three years and four months in active military service as a
>member of this country's most agile military force, the
>Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from
>Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that
>period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-
>man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers.
>In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
>
>I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am
>sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I
>never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My
>mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I
>obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with
>everyone in the military service.
>
>I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American
>oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent
>place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I
>helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics
>for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long.
>I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of
>Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name
>before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American
>sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard
>Oil went its way unmolested.
>
>During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would
>say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have
>given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to
>operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
>
>
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========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
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